D. Mijatovic

Superconducting Mg-B films by pulsed-laser deposition in an in situ two-step process using multicomponent targets

Superconducting thin films have been prepared in an insitu two-step process, using the Mg–B plasma generated by pulsed-laser ablation. The target was composed of a mixture of Mg and MgB2 powders to compensate for the volatility of Mg and, therefore, to ensure a high Mg content in the film. The films were deposited at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 300 °C followed by a low-pressure insitu annealing procedure. Various substrates have been used and diverse ways to increase the Mg content into the film were applied. The films show a sharp transition in the resistance and have a zero resistance transition temperature of 22–24 K.of 22-24 K.

Superconducting quantum interference device based on MgB2 nanobridges

The superconductor MgB2, with a transition temperature of 39 K, has significant potential for future electronics. An essential step is the achievement of Josephson circuits, of which the superconducting quantum interference device ~SQUID! is the most important. Here, we report Josephson quantum interference in superconducting MgB2 thin films. Modulation voltages of up to 30 mV are observed in an all-MgB2 SQUID, based on focused-ion-beam patterned nanobridges. These bridges, with a length scale ,100 nm, have outstanding critical current densities of 73106 A/cm2 at 4.2 K.

Superconducting thin films of MgB2 on Si by pulsed laser deposition

Superconducting thin MgB2 films have been prepared using pulsed-laser deposition. We have studied the influences of deposition conditions such as pressure and temperature, the substrate-material, and annealing-procedures. Various approaches have been pursued to obtain the right Mg content in the film during ablation and annealing. Special care has been taken to avoid oxidation of Mg in the laser plasma and deposited film, by optimizing the background pressure of Ar gas in the deposition chamber. The annealing procedure was found to be the most critical to obtain superconducting films.

Magnesium-diboride ramp-type Josephson junctions

Josephson junctions have been realized in which two superconducting magnesium-diboride (MgB2) layers are separated by a thin MgO barrier layer, using the ramp-type configuration. Their current–voltage characteristics follow the behavior described by the resistively shunted junction model, with an excess current of about 30% of the critical current Ic. A suppression of 70% of Ic was achieved in applied magnetic fields. Shapiro steps were observed by irradiating the junctions with 10.0 GHz microwaves, and the dependence of the step height on applied rf current is well described by a current–source model. Reference samples prepared without the MgO layer showed strong-link behavior with large Ic values.

SQUID magnetometer operating at 37K based on nanobridges in epitaxial MgB2 thin films

Superconducting quantum interference devices SQUIDs and magnetometers are fabricated from nanoconstrictions in epitaxial MgB2 films. The nanobridges are contained within single-crystalline grains, resulting in clean transport, a large critical current density of 5107 A/cm2 at 4.2 K, and stable SQUID voltage modulation up to 38.8 K. The magnetometer is realized with an inductively coupled pickup loop, giving rise to a field sensitivity of 1 pT Hz?1/2 down to 1 Hz. The device properties are governed by the two-band superconducting nature of MgB2, posing, however, no problems to a successful development of boride magnetic field sensing devices. The MgB2 zero-temperature London penetration depth is measured to be 62 nm, close to theoretical predictions.

The road to magnesium diboride thin films, Josephson junctions and SQUIDs

The remarkably high critical temperature at which magnesium diboride (MgB2) undergoes transition to the superconducting state, Tc approx 40 K, has aroused great interest and has encouraged many groups to explore the properties and application potential of this novel superconductor. For many electronic applications and further basic studies, the availability of superconducting thin films is of great importance. Several groups have succeeded in fabricating superconducting MgB2 films. An overview of the deposition techniques for MgB2 thin film growth will be given, with a special focus on the in situ two-step process.

Growth studies of Ba(1-x)K(x)BiO3-delta thin films by pulsed-laser deposition

A study is presented on pulsed-laser deposition of thin films of Ba1−xKxBiO3−δ (BKBO) and its parent compound BaBiO3−δ (BBO). BKBO is a non-cuprate high-TC (30 K) superconductor with relatively long coherence length (5 nm) and shows BCS like behavior. Therefore, BKBO is an attractive candidate for superconducting electronic device applications. Furthermore, the insulator BBO is suitable as barrier material. We deposited BKBO thin films from potassium-overdoped targets (Ba0.6K0.8BiO3−δ) in order to compensate for the volatility of potassium in our efforts to obtain superconducting Ba1−xKxBiO3−δ (x=0.3–0.4) thin films. The deposition parameters and annealing procedure were optimized to achieve good quality films. Especially, the substrate temperature is important, because it influences simultaneously the content of potassium and crystallinity of the growing film. This combination hampers the optimization, because they cannot be controlled independently. Furthermore, we will present our first attempts to control the stoichiometry using intervals of different pulsed-laser repetition rates.

MgB2 magnetometer with a directly coupled pick-up loop

magnetometer with a directly coupled pick-up loop. We used an all in situ technique for fabricating magnesium diboride films, which consists of the co-evaporation of B and Mg by means of an e-gun and a resistive heater respectively. Consequently, we realized the superconducting device, which incorporates two nanobridges as weak links in a superconducting loop. The nanobridges were realized by focused ion beam milling; they were 240 nm wide and had a critical current density of 107 A cm−2. The magnetometer was characterized at different temperatures and also measurements of the noise levels have been performed. The device shows Josephson quantum interference up to 20 K and the calculated effective area at low temperatures was 0.24 mm2. The transport properties of the magnetometer allow determining fundamental materials properties of the MgB2 thin films, such as the penetration depth.

MgB/sub 2/ thin films and Josephson devices

Since the recent discovery of superconductivity in MgB/sub 2/, various groups worldwide have been actively studying the growth of thin films based on this material. Impressive progress has been made, but various materials science challenges are still left to be solved. Guided by our own activities in this field, and reports presented in the literature, we reflect here on those challenges and possible ways for further improvement. Being important ingredients for many electronic applications, fabrication of Josephson devices and nano-structures in MgB/sub 2/ thin films will furthermore be described.